The House of Hades
by Firefly Alchemist
Summary: Percy and Annabeth are stuck in Tartarus, Nico is leading Leo, Jason, Piper, Frank, and Hazel to the doors of death, and Camp Half-Blood is still soon-to-be under attack from Camp Jupiter. This is my version of what will happen in the next Heroes of Olympus book, The House of Hades.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N So I know that this is called the House of Hades and stuff, but I'm not actually sure that I'm going to attempt to write my version of the next book. I just finished reading the Mark of Athena a few days ago, so I'm writing this on a Percabeth high right now and how long that will go on is really impossible to say.**

**Anyway, enjoy and don't forget to review. Or if you weren't planning on it… just review! Whether or not I post another chapter probably is dependent on how many reviews I get. I hate to be one of those authors, but reviews do give me incentive to write.**

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It seemed to Percy as if they had been falling forever. As far as he could tell, the closer they got to Tartarus, the slower their descent was. This in itself could be considered a good thing; it meant that they probably wouldn't die from the fall. Not dying was good. Of course, there was the matter that he felt like he was being ripped apart. It was as if something was slowly tearing him into little pieces and putting them back together in the wrong places, making some sort of demi-god Frankenstein. Nico's words took on a whole new meaning. _It's like a black hole…_

Through the pain, Percy managed to turn his head sideways and look at Annabeth. Her eyes were shut, her face expressionless. He half hoped that she was unconscious, but the death grip she had on his hand told him otherwise.

Not knowing what else to do, he squeezed her hand back.

A small smile appeared on her face, like just knowing that he was there made it better.

For a moment, he was struck with how beautiful she was. They hadn't gotten to spend very much time together since they were reunited. An even smaller amount of that time was alone. They'd spent that night talking to each other, the sweet smell of unused hay drifting around them, but even then, their voices had been tinged with doubt, fear, and worry. Somehow, at that moment, falling into the very depths of hell, pain swelling every vein in his body, he was happy. For a second, nothing else mattered, it was just him and Annabeth, just like old times.

Suddenly, the absence of pain brought Percy out of his thoughts. Before he even had time to comprehend the change, his body slammed into something hard. It knocked the wind out of his chest. It took him a couple of seconds to recover.

With a painful breath, he managed to get on his knees, and from there onto his feet. It was completely dark. He couldn't see anything. Still shaking slightly, he managed to uncap Riptide. From the faint glow it gave off, a few feet around him were illuminated. _A pretty crappy substitute for a flashlight, but it looks like it's all I've got. _He thought.

The first thing he did was check on Annabeth. She had fallen a few feet away from him, the force of impact had knocked their hands apart. "Annabeth," he said softly, afraid that if he called any louder he might disturb something potentially dangerous.

A flutter of panic rose in Percy when she didn't respond. His hands shook uncontrollably as he brushed hair off her neck and checked desperately for a pulse. To his immense relief, a steady but faint beat thumped under his fingers. A wave of nausea passed through Percy, causing him to collapse next to her. _I came so close to losing her…_ he thought, horror and relief equally strong within him.

Carefully, he turned her over so she was facing up. He was no medic, but even he could tell she wasn't in good shape. The make-shift splint she had fastened with bubble wrap around her ankle had come undone. Moving up, Percy sucked in a breath as he saw dark splotches of blood staining her orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt. He pressed slightly down on her chest, trying to access the damage.

She gasped suddenly, her eyelids fluttering.

Immediately, Percy pulled his hands away, afraid of hurting her more.

She lifted her head to look at him. "Percy-" she started, but before she could say anything else, she slipped back into unconsciousness.

_Ambrosia! _He thought. _I need ambrosia!_ But he had nothing. He looked around desperately trying to find something, anything! Finally, _Her backpack! Annabeth's backpack!_ It had to have fallen down here with them, but where was it? Percy could only see a few feet in any direction, and all he saw was rubble.

He glanced down at Annabeth's limp form on the floor. He couldn't leave her, but what would happen if he didn't? Her ankle had almost definitely gotten worse from the fall, and from the looks of it, she had broken a few ribs. Percy winced as he remembered her bouncing off the ledge that he managed to grab. He remembered the sickening crunch of bones breaking.

There were a lot of injuries. And that was the best-case scenario, it could be even worse. He knew he had to do it. She might die if he didn't leave her._ She might die if I do._ He pushed that thought from his mind. He had to make a choice, this was it.

He bent down and swiftly kissed the top of her head before holding up riptide and setting out to explore the room into which they had fallen. He was careful with his footing and with his direction, he had to remember where she was at all times, she couldn't afford for him to get lost.

As he walked around, Percy found, surprising, nothing. They were in some kind of large cavern, as far as he could tell, nothing was in it at all, except for things that had fallen with them from above. The floor was littered with debris from the ground on which the Athena Parthenos sat.

After a few minutes of walking, he came across a huge cylindrical mass of woven silk. As he started towards it, it shifted. Backing up a few steps, a small smile appeared on his face. Despite everything, he couldn't help but be proud of her. That was his girl. She managed to get Arachne to defeat herself. Annabeth was, in short, brilliant. Still, he cautiously backed away, being sure to keep its location in his mind.

A while later, he ran across a thin sliver of metal. Inspecting it, he realized that it was Daedalus' laptop. When he opened it, he was amazed when it blinked to life. Either it had fallen the same way they had, or Daedalus had decked it out with some sort of indestructible metal. Percy carefully cradled it under his arm like a baby, knowing Annabeth would have his head if he left it.

In a few more steps, to Percy's relief, he came across her backpack. Grabbing it, he ran back to where she lay.

Giving her a quick look over, nothing seemed to have changed since he left. With layer of hope clinging to his body, he dug frantically in the backpack until he found a baggie of ambrosia. He gently lifted up her head and placed it in his lap, propping her up against his stomach. After a few botched attempts, he finally managed to get the ambrosia into her mouth and hopefully down her throat.

After a few tense moments, her eyes flew open, two gray storms looking around frantically. "Percy?" she asked, her voice hoarse.

"I'm here," he answered, gripping her hand tightly, a wide grin spreading across his face.

He helped her into a sitting position. She coughed, and a few ambrosia crumbs trickled from her mouth. She winced, crying out slightly as the movement jostled her broken ribs.

"Here, take some more ambrosia," Percy said, unable to stop smiling. He handed her the rest of the square.

She ate it slowly, grimacing every time she swallowed. After she was done, she looked at him. Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened again. "So I guess we didn't die, then?" she asked.

"Not as far as I can tell."

"Good. that would've been an awful way to go. After all I've survived to be defeated by a spider web."

"Oh! That reminds me…" Percy picked Riptide off the floor next to him and quickly severed all the spider web still attached to her limbs.

"What now?" she asked, moving farther into a sitting position, leaning heavily against his chest.

"We survive Tartarus," Percy answered simply.

A smile crawled onto Annabeth's lips. "With all we've been through, that'll be easy."

Percy drew her closer to him, wrapping his arms protectively around her. "Yeah, it will."

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**A/N So there you have it, chapter one of my House of Hades fanfiction. Please review!**

**Sorry about the lack of Percyness in this chapter. There wasn't really any room for humor… hopefully that'll change soon!**

**I just want to say I'm posting this with really no idea will it lead, so if I continue, it'll be interesting! Oh also, this chapter is probably going to be the shortest I'll ever post. I just wanted to get something up.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N Oh my god! Thank you guys soooo much for everything on my last chapter. I think that's the largest response I've ever gotten on a single chapter! You guys are the best! So, since so many of you responded, I've decided to make this a regularly updated multi-chaptered story! So here is chapter two… From Nico's point of view… Unfortunately still not very much room for humor :(**

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The five demigods sat glumly in the mess hall. Nico was leaning heavily on Hazel, still not fully recovered. Jason and Piper were sitting next to each other, holding hands discretely under the table, but not looking at one another. Probably thinking about how easily it could've have been them who tumbled into Tartarus. Leo was staring down at the table. His lips kept moving, but no sound was coming out. It looked like he was saying 'all my fault' over and over. Frank was sitting by Hazel, and he, like Leo, had his eyes downcast.

Finally Nico broke the silence. "We have to tell Camp Half-Blood." His voice was harsh and scratchy. . Even to his ears, it sounded somehow inappropriate. Like it was insensitive to the situation

Everyone around the table jerked their heads up to stare at him.

Nico swallowed then coughed. "We have to tell them what happened to Percy and Annabeth. Maybe… maybe Chiron will know something."

Everyone dropped their gazes again.

"Yeah. We should." Jason answered after a few awkward seconds of silence.

"Does he know what's happened on the quest so far?" Nico asked.

Jason suddenly turned to look at Piper, then Leo. "I-I don't think so… Gods! With everything going… we completely forgot to tell them anything!"

Nico narrowed his eyes. "You mean you didn't even send him an Iris message to warn him that you'd accidentally sent a legion after his camp?" There was anger woven in his voice. Even if he spent most of his time in the Underworld, he had a deep connection to Camp Half-Blood.

"Um… no. I guess we got kinda caught up in the quest…" Jason said uncertainly.

Nico sighed, trying to get his irritation under control. "Fine. We'll have to tell him now. Better late than never."

He must not have washed away his feelings entirely because Jason glared at him murderously. "We were a little preoccupied with rescuing you." The blonde boy seemed to hesitate for a second before adding. "Against my better judgment. How do we know we can trust you? You were visiting both camps! What were you playing at? How do we know you're not working for Gaea?"

Nico stood up, fury burning in his brown eyes. "Percy and Annabeth were my friends! They've saved me more times than-" suddenly his throat constricted and he couldn't speak. He swallowed, but started again. "And Hazel's my sister! I'd never do anything to put her in danger! I've already lost too many people…"

Jason stood up as well, his chair falling to the ground.

Before anything else could happen, Hazel was between them. "Stop this! You two are being stupid!"

Both demigods blinked, staring at her.

"Percy and Annabeth are gone! Probably trying desperately to survive against hoards of Gaea's minion, and here you two are arguing like idiots! We all need to calm down, fighting won't get us anywhere!"

Jason and Nico glared at each other, but grudgingly sat back down.

Hazel remained standing. "First, we'll go contact the Greek camp then we'll talk about how we should proceed to Greece. The least we can do is our part. For Percy and Annabeth."

The four others stared at Hazel in amazement, they weren't used to her taking on such a leading role.

Nico stood up. "I'll go contact Chiron."

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Nico fingered the gold drachma in his hand. The smooth solid metal was cool against his palm. He remembered a time when he would've liked the feeling of it, Hades or Pluto, a child of the Underworld learned to appreciate precious metals. That all had changed. After being trapped in a bronze jar for seven days, he doubted he would ever again be able to savor the feeling of metal. Still, he was reluctant to let the drachma leave his hand, knowing what would happen when he did.

He would have to face them. They wouldn't blame him or hold a grudge against him, Camp Half-Blood wasn't like that. They would look at each other, maybe cry, but understand. Instead they would blame it on Percy and Annabeth's heroic nature. It would be worse than if they yelled or screamed at him for being stupid. At least then, some of the guilt would be lifted off his shoulders.

He thought of Percy's last words to him. He thought of his sisters. (Both Bianca, and Hazel) He thought of the task ahead of him. His thoughts had no rhyme or reason about them, but somehow amazingly, they calmed him enough that he was able to toss the coin into a rainbow hovering in front of him.

"O Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, please accept my offering. Show me Chiron at Camp Half-Blood." Nico shifted nervously as the rainbow slowly shifted to a picture.

It looked like Chiron was standing on the porch to the Big House. It was amazing how peaceful everything looked. Well, from the small window of the he could see. But, in comparison to the past few hours, just about anything would look peaceful, he figured.

Chiron took a second to notice the message, and Nico was almost afraid to break the silence. When the centaur finally looked up, he did a double take, as if Nico was the last person he expected to see. "Nico…?" he asked.

Nico took a deep breath, he tried a smile, but he didn't need to see his reflection to know how fake it looked. "Hi, Chiron," he said with a small wave.

"What's going on? Are you with Annabeth?"

Nico hesitated, suddenly unsure of what to say. "Chiron… A lot's happened. I-I don't where to start."

Chiron leaned back and scrutinized Nico. "How about with how you came to be on the Argo II if I'm not very much mistaken."

Nico sighed, but launched into his story. How Hades had led him to Camp Jupiter, about Hazel. Hoe he had tried to find the doors of death and got captured. He paused for a moment, unsure of how to continue. He hadn't actually been there for the rest of the story; he just had Jason, Piper, Leo, Hazel, and Franks' accounts to go on, and they hadn't told him much. "From what I understand, they made it to Camp Jupiter fine and found Percy, but-"

Suddenly Chiron held up his hand, telling Nico to stop. "They found Percy?" He asked, incredulous. "Why didn't Annabeth contact me? We've been going wild over here with worry!" A softer expression appeared on his face. "Is Percy alright?"

Nico looked down, and Chiron seemed to understand, at least a little. He didn't ask any more questions, as if afraid of the answers he would receive. Nico didn't blame him, but he still tried his best to answer the one Chiron had asked. "He was fine. Annabeth didn't tell you anything because… well because they got into a little patch of trouble. I'm not sure exactly what happened, but somehow, they sort of started a war with the Romans," Nico winced at how lame his words sounded. "It wasn't their fault," he added quickly. "Something to do with possession… But now the Romans are on their way to attack Camp Half-Blood."

Chiron's eyes darkened. "That, I knew. For all her faults, Lupa saw fit to warn me of their approach."

Nico stared at him, surprised. Lupa almost never interfered with the campers once they were at camp.

Chiron gave Nico a hard look. "She understands the consequences if we went to war, and besides, she is an honorable creature. A true Roman." Chiron answered Nico's unvoiced question.

"Well after that they were in a hurry. Annabeth probably didn't have any time to contact anyone. From what I understand, they made it to Rome, on the seventh day of their quest, their last day to save me." He explained just about everything that happened next, but when he got to the end, he felt his throat choke up a bit.

Chiron waited patiently for the boy to continue.

"There… there was still some spider web attached to Annabeth's leg. I-I guess on the other end it must have been connected to something that fell into the pit because it pulled her down too. Percy, he wouldn't let her go. They fell in together. It closed up afterwards." Nico wanted to look anywhere than at Chiron, but he forced himself to do it anyway.

Chiron stood rigid. His face was blank, no readable emotions on it as far as Nico could tell, but when he spoke, his voice was wracked with grief. "Are they dead?"

"I don't think so. I mean, no. They're not. I would be able to tell."

The centaur sighed with relief. "Thank the gods. But they're trapped in Tartarus?"

"Yes." This time, Nico couldn't stand it. He dropped his eyes. He knew that 'stuck in Tartarus' was pretty much the same as 'dead,' except this way Percy and Annabeth would probably die slowly and painfully at the hands of monsters who were keen on revenge for getting sentenced to the very depths of hell. Percy and Annabeth, they could survive almost anything, but… Nico shuddered as his own memories from Tartarus resurfaced. He had barely made it and he was a son of Hades.

"What are you going to do now?" Chiron asked softly, the grief still in his voice, but slightly less now.

Nico looked up and saw in Chiron's eyes what he had dreaded most, forgiveness. "I'll lead Jason and the others to the House of Hades, to permanently seal the doors of death and save Percy and Annabeth."

Chiron nodded. "Good luck. And Nico? For the sake of the world, succeed."

With that, the rainbow fizzed away and the water vapor dissipated into the air.

Nico leaned heavily against. It had been both easier and harder than he had imagined. Slowly, he trudged back up to the mess hall where the others were waiting.

They all glanced up as he entered the room.

"How did it go?" Leo asked.

"Fine. Chiron already knew about the Romans."

"Did he know anything about Tartarus?" Jason asked.

"No. I don't think so. He just said we needed complete the quest."

The others nodded.

"So… What should we do?" Frank asked.

No one volunteered any suggestions until Nico stated the obvious "We have to get to the doors of death."

"Yeah. In Greece, right?" Piper asked though she knew the answer. Not waiting for Nico to answer, she continued. "That's about seven hundred miles from here, I think. Leo, can we make there?"

Leo considered the question. "Yeah, the Argo II should be good. She took some damage, but for the most part everything's fine."

Just as he finished speaking, the entire ship lurched to the left. All of them were thrown to the floor.

"What was that?" Hazel asked, shakily getting to her feet.

"Venti," Jason said, grimly staring out the window at the storm spirits racing around.

Leo groaned. "Not those guys again! I thought we were done with them!"

Piper smiled and punched Leo's arm. "What's wrong, Valdez? Not up to a fight?"

Leo sighed, but stood up. "Let's go kick some butt!"

Secretly, Nico was almost glad there was something to distract them from Annabeth and Percy, a smile appearing on his face, he followed the others out to the deck.

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**A/N Next chapter, back to Percy and Annabeth! I've started to get a vague ideas for plot lines… (although I'll admit my thoughts are shamefully skewered to Percy and Annabeth, but how am I supposed to help it after how Mark of Athena ended!?)**

**Sorry about reusing the Venti, I know it's kinda lame but they're really the only wind monsters in Greek/Roman mythology I could find... oh well, I'll try not to reuse anything else...  
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**So, love you all and please review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed! Most of you were really nice (not all of you) and I want you to all know that I really really appreciate. Also, thanks to anyone who signed up to be alerted or favorite this story!**

**A lot of people informed me that they did tell Chiron. Sorry about that... I am usually very good about checking my facts, and did think that that one might be wrong, but I didn't want to reread the entire book to try and find it. Thank you guys so much for pointing it out to me, and I'll be much more careful with future chapters! :) **

**So that's it for this long author's note! I hope you enjoy the rest of my story!**

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Percy

"Can you walk?" Percy asked, helping Annabeth to stand.

She tentatively put her weight on her bad leg. That bubble wrap cast that they had managed to re-secure around her broken ankle popped a couple of times under the sudden pressure, but held, which Percy counted as a victory.

Unfortunately, Annabeth cried out in pain and sunk deeper into Percy's chest in order to remain standing. She bit her lip in irritation. "Maybe… let me try again." She pushed away from him, about to place her foot on the ground, but Percy held her back.

"No way. I can tell when you're hurt."

Annabeth glared at him. "I'm fine! We need to start moving! We can't wait around here forever!" She pushed away from him again and started to take slow steps. After a few, she fell heavily to the ground, clutching her chest.

Percy ran over to her. "Are you alright?" he asked in concern.

"I- I'm fine," she said again, between pants.

"No you're not." Percy said. A small smile speared on his face. "Well, there's only one thing to do now!"

"Which is?"

"I'll carry you!" He stated cheerfully.

"Percy, that's a stupid idea. What if we run into monsters? You won't be able to fight!" Annabeth protested. But, since she was unable to come up with a better option (or so Percy assumed) she held her hand out and grudgingly got on his back.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, getting ready for the piggy-back ride. "You've got the backpack?" Percy asked.

She nodded.

"Here, hold Riptide, so we can see where we're going," he said, and momentarily let go of her leg to pass her the sword.

She held it carefully in front of them, trying her hardest to maintain hold on Percy one-handed. "Just keep walking forward until we hit a wall. Then we can walk around that and try to find an exit," she suggested.

"Okay. Are you ready?" Percy asked.

She gulped and tightened her grip, both on Percy and the sword, but nodded again.

They walked a few minutes in silence coming across nothing. More time passed. Still, they hadn't even reached a wall. Finally, Annabeth cried, "Look, Percy! There's something up there!"

He hesitated for a second squinting into the darkness. There did appear to be something ahead of them. It was hard to say what, but it was definitely different from rock, the only thing they had encountered so far. Quickening his pace, they reached it in seconds. "Is this… the wall?" Percy asked, gently laying his hand against smooth metal.

"Of course!" Annabeth cried, Percy could tell she was mentally slapping herself for not remembering whatever tidbit of information she was about to tell him. "Tartarus is a dark pit surrounded by a wall of bronze!"

Percy stared her. "Seriously? We just saved Nico from bronze jar, and now _we're_ trapped in one?"

"Well, it's much bigger than Nico's was," she pointed out.

"Just so it can be stuffed to the brim with monsters and titans!"

"True."

"Is there anything else you can remember about this place that might possibly save our lives?" he asked.

"Well besides the bronze it's said to be surrounded a three-fold layer of night."

Percy stared at her. "Who said that? Because you can tell them that it doesn't make any sense."

"It was in a poem written by Hesiod. He wrote a lot about Tartarus and the Underworld. He also said-" suddenly her face turned pale.

"What? What is it?"

"Percy," she started hesitantly. Do you remember how long we were falling?"

He frowned. "What? I dunno… maybe an hour? It was hard to tell. Why?"

"Because he also wrote that if you fall into Tartarus from Earth it takes nine days."

"But that's impossible! We weren't falling for nine days!"

"We might've been. Maybe something bent the time so it felt shorter to us, like in the Labyrinth."

"You mean on the outside nine days might have already passed?"

"I don't know! I don't know! Maybe Hesiod was wrong."

"He was right about the bronze wall," Percy said darkly.

"Well, the only thing we can do now is reach the doors of death."

So, Percy set off again, making sure to keep the wall on one side of him at all times. After a few more minutes, Annabeth stopped him again.

"Percy, wait! Is that my knife?" She cried pointing at something lying on the ground.

Percy stooped over and picked it up. It was indeed her knife, the only object he hadn't recovered when exploring the cavern before.

"Oh thank the gods!" Annabeth said. (In Percy's opinion, she was way too excited about a knife, but it had been with her since she was seven.)

"Here," she said, capping Riptide and handing it back to him. "My knife gives off just as much light and it's a lot easier to hold."

Once again, they continued, making slow progress along the wall.

Percy wondered about what Annabeth had said. Was it possible that nine days had already passed? If it was true, the others might already be at the other doors of death, fighting for their lives.

_And we still have to make it past tons of monsters and Gaea's supporters to reach them!_ Plus, he had no idea how they were even going to find the doors of death. Unless Hades had installed one of those helpful 'you are here' maps like in malls, getting lost was pretty much inevitable.

And then there was the problem that Annabeth could hardly stand, let alone fight. It would be hours more before the ambrosia kicked in enough for her to even walk without pain. He had to find a way to heal her, preferably soon.

A horrible cry suddenly brought Percy out of his thoughts. It was like the voice of a woman, but not quite. He had it before, but where? In the moment it took him to place it, Annabeth had already frozen against his back.

"Arachne," she whispered, terror clear in voice.

"How? When I saw her I think she was almost dead. She was hardly moving!" Percy told her urgently.

"She must have survived and found a way to get out of the trap!"

Percy glanced behind him, at Annabeth's face. He really didn't want to fight anything with her like this. If anything happened to him, they would never get out of this alive. "But she doesn't know where we are, right?" I mean if we keep quiet…"

"She can sense me. I'm a child of Athena, she can sense all of us."

Percy ran. Any thoughts of how tired his legs were flew out of his mind. He thought he could hear a scratching following them, like a spider running along a metal wall. It might've been his imagination. He _hoped_ it was his imagination.

The sound kept getting closer, growing with every step he took. Finally, when he thought his lungs would burst, he saw something in the ground in front of him. As they neared it, he saw it was a hole in the floor. A faint glow of light was coming out of it. Hoping that that meant it lead to something, the second he could, Percy leapt into it.

He hit something hard and stumbled, but managed to keep his balance. Throwing a quick glance around, he saw that they were it a tunnel of some sort. Torches lined the walls. The sudden brightness hurt his eyes, but he refused to close them.

Gently putting Annabeth down so her back was propped up against the wall, he turned and squinted up back through the hole that he had jumped through. To his relief, it was quite small. Not nearly large enough for a giant spider to slip through.

Still, not seconds later, two huge, hair legs came down and started feeling around desperately, like a cat for a mouse. Percy uncapped riptide and in a smooth motion, chopped them both off.

Arachne screamed above them. (At least Percy thought it was a scream) And she withdrew the stumps of legs. "Daughter of Athena," she hissed, causing Percy to move protectively in front of Annabeth even though he knew she couldn't possibly reach them. "I will find you! And when I do, I shall have my revenge!"

There was the scratching sound again, and then nothing.

Percy sighed and capped riptide. "Are you alright?" he asked, turning towards Annabeth.

"I'm fine." Her face was chalk white, but other than that Percy couldn't see anything wrong with her. Well, that hadn't already been injured, that is.

"Are you sure? Be-" he started, but she cut him off.

"I'm fine Percy. Really, I'm not trying to be brave or anything. What about you?"

He started to laugh, though he couldn't say why. Something about her angry expression coupled with their current situation was somehow hilarious to him.

She stared at him like he was crazy, then rolled her eyes. "Come on Seaweed Brain. We need to keep moving.

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**A/N So I might have lied a little about the lengths of my chapters... but this one isn't too shabby. It's pretty good for my third straight chapter in three days...** **I was planning on making it longer but it just seemed like the logical place to end a chapter. Also sorry that nothing really happened. I promise the pace will start to pick up soon**

**Oh, and about the bronze wall thing... I know I said I wouldn't reuse anything, but that's actually how Tartarus is described, so it couldn't be helped.  
**

**Anyway, thank you to all the lovely reviewers. (And to any future reviewers hint hint)  
**

**I promise (for real this time) that my next chapters will be longer. If my planning stays the same as it is in my head right now, the next chapter should also be a Percy and Annabeth one. (No promises though)  
**


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N So this is the first real chapter in my opinion. The others have just been kind of prelude. Thanks to all those favoriters/reviewers/alerters!**

**Not much to say really... It's longer which is why it took me two days to update. (Really not sure where this updating frenzy is coming from guys, I just hope it last) And now, I've got to go through and EDIT this chapter... whoo... well, see you at the bottom.**

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They rested for a few minutes before continuing down the narrow corridor. Percy felt a dark sense of dread creeping up his spine. Somehow, this well-lit passage way was more foreboding than the vast dark cavern they were previously in. Something about the dimensions just screamed 'monsters.' Of course they would run into something horrible here, where he barely had room to uncap Riptide.

Moving along carefully, Percy kept his eyes peeled for any sign of approaching danger. The farther they got into the tunnel, the more sure he was they were about to be attacked, but nothing happened.

From Annabeth's rigid composure on his back, he could tell that she felt the same way.

Hours passed, and Percy's legs grew heavier and heavier until it was all he could do to keep them shuffling forward.

"Percy, maybe we should stop for the night," Annabeth suggested. From her tone, Percy could tell that she sensed his weariness.

He shook his head forcefully, trying to get back on track. "No. I'm fine. If nine days have already passed, we need to keep moving! We need to reach the others as quick as possible!"

"Wearing yourself out isn't going to help us at all!" Annabeth pointed out. Seeing that Percy was still determined to keep going, she tried a different tact. "Come on, Percy! You've been carrying me for hours. We need rest."

When he still refused to listen, Annabeth sighed, but squirmed out of his grasp, landing hard on the stone floor. She winced and gently prodded her chest to make sure that she hadn't re-broken anything.

Percy stumbled from the sudden unbalance of weight and had to put his hand to the side of the passage way to remain standing. He turned to face Annabeth who had pushed herself up against wall and was leaning into it, staring at him, her gray eyes stormy as always.

"Annabeth, we need to keep moving!" He said again, casting a glance around in all directions. He couldn't shake the feeling that something or someone was watching them.

He held his hand out to her, but she just crossed her arms and shook her head. "No. Percy, you need to rest. I'm not going any further."

Percy sighed, but then sat down next to her. "Really, Annabeth I'm fine for now. I just think we should get out of here," he said gesturing to the corridor around them. "Something about it just feels wrong. Let's just go a little farther. If we haven't reached anything then, we can spend the night in here."

Annabeth grudgingly accepted his offer. "Fine, but just one hour."

Percy nodded, and helped her get on his back again. Barely fifteen minutes later, they came out in a room. Like the first one, it was large, much larger than the passage way, but it was also lit.

In the eerie glow of the torches swept along the walls, and Percy saw that they were in some kind of dungeon. Cells with rusty iron bars lined the walls. They went down farther than Percy could see. Cautiously, he leaned forward in order to look into the nearest one. To his relief it was empty. Looking around, he realized that all of the cells were empty, at least all the ones he could see.

He tested the bars and saw that they were so rusted that they broke easily. This must have been some old abandoned part of Tartarus. Did Tartarus have abandoned parts? Percy had no idea. With all the monsters that had been on the lose for the past couple of months, it seemed possible…

He screwed his head around to look at Annabeth. She shrugged her shoulders as well as she could while hanging on to Percy to show she didn't know what was up with the empty cells and more than he did.

"Well this seems like a place as good any to sleep," he said.

Annabeth nodded.

Percy went into the nearest cell and put Annabeth down, hoping that if anything attacked them the bars could serve as some sort of protection. "Are you good?" He asked.

She nodded again, and rested her head against his shoulder breathing heavily.

Noticing her I'm-in-pain-but-I'm-too-strong-and-proud-to-admit-it look, Percy fished out the bag of Ambrosia. Giving her another dose this soon could be dangerous, but enough time had probably passed, and if her expression was anything to go by, she needed it. "Here," he said, breaking off a small corner of the divine food and handing it to her.

"Thanks." She ate it quickly.

Looking at the ambrosia in his hand, Percy felt his stomach growl and he remembered that he hadn't eaten anything since they'd fallen into Tartarus. Picking up a square, he looked it over, drool practically falling out of his mouth as the smell of freshly baked cookies wafted to him. "Hey, Annabeth, do you know if this stuff can be substituted at real food?" he asked.

She frowned, looking at it. "I don't know. I've never had any need for it before now. But, now that I think about it, I'm not hungry. Logically, it should heal an empty stomach just like a wound. Try it in super small portions, just to be safe."

Percy anxiously nibbled the edge. Instantly, the taste of warm cookies exploded in his mouth. He swallowed, and at first nothing happened, but finally he started to feel something in his stomach. Slowly but surely the gripping pain of hunger was leaving. He smiled wide.

"Did it work?" Annabeth asked, but his smile already told her the answer. "Now, water."

"That's easy," Percy stated closing his eyes. It took some effort, but he finally located a small puddle of water about twenty feet away from them. Concentrating even harder, he brought it over to them. It was tougher than it should've been though, like something was smothering his power. "Here," Percy said, cupping his hands and mentally pouring the water into them. He gently gave Annabeth a long sip.

"Thanks," she muttered, wetting her lips. She looked up at him and smiled. "There are some definite advantages to dating the son of Poseidon," she said almost thoughtfully.

Percy laughed and pulled her into a tight hug. They sat like that for a few minutes before, as usual, Percy decided to ruin the moment. A huge yawn racked his jaw.

Annabeth laughed, but pulled away. "You need to get some sleep, Seaweed Brain. I'll take first watch."

Percy mumbled his thanks. And closed his eyes, but reopened them as a thought occurred to him. "Speaking of keeping watch, where are all the monsters Nico kept talking about? I don't mean to sound ungrateful or jinx us, but does it seem a little odd to you?"

A crease appeared between Annabeth's eyebrows, and Percy could tell that she had been thinking the same thing. After a few seconds, her expression turned light again. "Don't worry. I'm sure we'll run into more than enough of them before this adventure is over."

Percy nodded. This time, he sunk almost immediately into sleep. Just as his eyelids fell shut, he thought he saw a flash of something white, but it disappeared, and he was lost in the realm of sleep.

* * *

For once, Percy had no dreams. No flashes of Gaea's forces or of Nico and the others, just darkness. He was floating in it. It wrapped around him like blanket and squeezed, suffocating him. It was pulling him down, farther and farther until he thought he'd never be able to get back to reality.

To his relief he finally sat up, hands shaking slightly. Cold sweat dripped down the back of his neck.

"Percy," Annabeth whispered above him.

He turned and saw that she was gripping his shoulder. With a start, he realized that she must have woken him. "What is it?" His words slurred; he was still groggy.

She didn't answer, just nodded in front of them.

Turning again, Percy saw that they were surrounded by maybe fifteen ghostly figures. They differed in shades. Some were nearly transparent; Percy had to focus to even see their vaguest outlines, but others looked practically solid, the only hint that they weren't just human were the slight blurring around the edges of their forms.

One of the more solid looking ones stepped forward. Percy was sure that he had seen him before, but where eluded him. The ghost was dressed like an ancient Greek hero, and he looked a bit like Ares, tall and buff. Even their dark closely shaved dark hair was the same. The biggest difference between the two were their eyes. Squinting, Percy looked into the very human green eyes. Suddenly, he remembered. "Achilles," he breathed.

Annabeth looked at Percy incredulously. "Achilles…?" She glanced at the ghost then back at Percy as if silently asking him where he had met one of the most famous Greek heroes.

Achilles didn't acknowledge Annabeth at all, just stared at Percy. "So, we meet again, Perseus Jackson. I see you no longer bear my curse."

Percy got to his feet. Even if Achilles was a Greek hero, there something about his cruel features that Percy didn't trust. He moved to stand between Annabeth and the ghost. He drew Riptide from his pocket, but left it capped, ready to use the sword at any moment.

"Percy," Annabeth said wearily. "If that _is_ Achilles…" she trailed off, but he understood her full meaning: If this was Achilles, he didn't stand a chance. Maybe when he was if he still had Achilles' power, but now…

Still, he stood his ground. "What do you want?" Percy asked. Then, another question occurred to him. "What are you doing here? You weren't sent to Tartarus when you died, right?"

Achilles looked Percy over, sizing him up. "No. This is a place reserved for monsters. When I died I went to Elysium. But the she called to me…" he didn't elaborate, just held up his hand and marveled at it, as though surprised that it was there. "She whispered secrets into my ear. She told me of her plans to rise and retake the world, how the era of the gods is coming to an end. She offered the chance of a second life. To live again, as myself, Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, but this time, I would be immortal.

"She promised me riches, castles, and power beyond anything! All I have to do is capture two small demigods and hand them over to her," He paused and glanced at Percy and Annabeth. "Just that, and everything's mine!"

Percy backed up as Achilles took a step forward, going straight through the bars. Once he had reached the other side, he seemed to solidify again.

Realizing what was going on, Percy uncapped Riptide and held it up. He searched desperately in his mind for anything that could get them out of this. Unfortunately, he came up with nothing.

Achilles took another step forward, forcing Percy to stand almost on top of Annabeth. Trying to buy some time Percy started speaking, trying to keep Achilles talking, because as long as he was talking he wasn't killing them. Hopefully. (Percy really had no idea how well this guy could multitask, but hey, it was worth a shot.) "But you're a Greek hero, why would you turn against the gods?"

Achilles frowned, but it looked more like a grimace. "Eternal life, boy! That's what Gaea offered me! Do you have any idea what that means? The gods, bah! No matter how many men I killed, no matter how good of a fighter I was, they'd never let me become a god. No, that was a right they reserved for their precious children! The gods," he said again. "What did they ever do for me?"

Annabeth looked up. "Well Athena helped you win the fight against Hector," she pointed out rationally.

"I could have easily won that fight on my own, but the goddess of _wisdom_," he said wisdom sarcastically. "Didn't trust me. I had no godly blood." His face was contorted, as if it couldn't contain his rage. After a second, he shrugged and a cruel smile reappeared. "It's of no matter, for soon I shall be elevated beyond Athena or any of the pathetic Olympians! Now, to uphold my half of the bargain." Achilles stepped forward again. Now, only a bout a foot separated him and Percy.

Well, that appeared to be the end of the conversation. Still, Percy had bought them a couple of seconds. Now just a couple more to give them time to think of a plan. Even though he was horrible with Greek myths, Percy remembered that Achilles was extremely proud (that, Percy could tell just from their little chat) and would never back down from a fight. It probably wasn't the best idea, Achilles was the greatest warrior who ever lived, and pretty much invincible. On the other hand though, Percy knew his weakness. If he could just get to it… And besides, Achilles didn't want to kill them. Worse case scenario, they'd just wind up in the same situation. "I challenge you to a dual," Percy said loudly.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried indignantly, clearly thinking he had lost his mind.

A spark lit up in Achilles' eyes and, for a second, he was almost indistinguishable from the god of war, all humanity seemed to drip from them until nothing was left but hard rock. A wide grin spread across his face. "You would be so arrogant as to challenge me?"

When Percy didn't answer, Achilles' shrugged. "If that's your wish, I accept. I only hope that you are a worthy opponent, son of Poseidon." With that, he slipped back through the bars and waited for Percy.

Percy carefully went around the remaining bars and stood a few feet away from Achilles, in the middle of the wide hallway. The rest of the ghosts quickly surrounded them, forming a loose circle around the two warriors.

"Percy!" Annabeth cried again, this time more desperately.

He turned to look, but her face was lost in the sea of ghosts. He faced Achilles again, who drew his own sword.

The two exchanged a series of blows, mainly trying to get a feel for the other's style, rather than trying to hurt them. Soon, that changed. Percy jabbed and slashed, but no matter how complicated the move was, Achilles' sword was always there to block him.

It was a pretty even match. Achilles' skill was just about equal to Percy's. For a number of minutes they switched defense and offense, neither gaining the advantage. Finally, Percy swung his sword and before Achilles was able to block it, it found a chink in his armor. It should have cut right through the flesh, but instead it stopped like Percy was trying to chop steel. The reverberations of the contact racked Percy's arm, almost making him drop Riptide.

Again, a smile crept across Achilles' face. "You're beginning to see how hopeless your efforts are."

Percy said nothing, just parried Achilles' next blow and managed to get back into the fight.

More time passed. Percy had some pretty near misses, and soon he was covered in small cuts, each stinging and dripping blood. Finally, he saw his opening. He quickly faked to the left, and as Achilles raised his arm to stop the blow, Percy pulled his sword back, and rolled under Achilles' outstretched arm.

Before the Greek hero had time to react, Percy was behind him. In a fluid motion, he swung Riptide at Achilles exposed ankle. (The moron was still wearing sandals. Didn't he learn his lesson after he died the first time?) For a moment, it looked like Percy had won, but to his horror, his sword passed straight through Achilles leg like it was nothing but air. Looking up, Percy saw that Everything about Achilles had become almost transparent, including his sword.

Achilles started to laugh. "Foolish boy. I'm still a ghost. The closer spirits get to the Doors of Death, the more solid they become. At this distance, I can change my density if I only concentrate! You have no hope of winning this fight!"

Realizing the truth of his words, Percy was too slow in reacting to Achilles' next attack. As the now solid hilt of the sword hit him in the head, Percy slumped to the ground, unconscious.

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**A/N There's chapter, what is it now, four? Wow, this story seems to be flying by. For once I'm actually satisfied with the length.**

**Sorry about the reusing of Achilles... Wow my main goal with this story seems to be, 'how can I break my promise of not reusing things?' Anyway, Achilles had such a small role, I don't really count it.  
**

**I don't have anything else to say besides to beg for reviews! So, please, review!**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N So, after a lot of thought, I decided to change the rating of the story to T to encompass this chapter. (It's probably just me being paranoid, but whatever) There's nothing really bad in it, just some mild suggested sexual themes. It's all based of the Trojan war, so there was no way around it, but I just wanted to give you guys a heads up.**

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Percy woke up with a raging headache. It wasn't the first time he had been knocked out, but it was never a pleasant experience. As the world started to come into focus, he looked down and saw that his hands were tied. Where these ghosts had managed to find rope was beyond him.

As he tried to lift his head, immense pain shot down his spine. Collapsing back on the floor, Percy tried again. This time, he was able to get it off the ground. At first the scene in front of him was just a bunch of mixed up and fractured images. Concentrating for a second, it, like his hands, slowly became clearer. Shapes blurred back into human forms and the walls turned back into walls, until he could see everything clearly.

Turning his head, he caught sight of Annabeth, and saw that her hands were also tied, but she appeared to be fine besides that. Struggling into a seated position, he saw Achilles a few feet away. He seemed to be arguing with another ghost. It looked like things were getting pretty heated. In fact, the two looked close to blows.

The other ghost was in the same era Greek battle clothing as Achilles. With their too-short tunics and comical sandals, the scene would've been quite funny was it not for his current situation.

He glanced back over to Annabeth, and tried to make eye contact, but she was completely focused on the two fighting figures. She was biting her bottom lip slightly, and Percy could tell that she searching the archives of her memory for who the other ghost was. Any information would be potentially helpful at that point. He too turned and half-heartedly studied the other ghost, not really expecting to succeed. He didn't. He had absolutely no idea who the guy was, but based on his demeanor, he didn't appear to be a fighter, or at least not a significant one, but he did stand up to Achilles as an equal, maybe even a better, so he must have been important.

Suddenly, Achilles broke Percy out of his thoughts by stomping towards them. At first, Percy thought he was storming away and would leave the room, but instead he marched right up to Annabeth and roughly pulled her up by the arm.

She cried out in pain, as Achilles forced her to stand on her hurt ankle.

Percy started towards them angrily, but realized that the rope that was stretched between his wrists had also been secured to one of the more sturdy bars by another short piece of rope. "Annabeth!" He said, loudly, not expecting it to do much good, but hoping to at least to distract Achilles.

Unfortunately, Achilles ignored him.

The other ghost strode over to Achilles and Annabeth, stopping in front of them. He grabbed Annabeth's other arm and jerked her towards him instead. "The girl is not yours, Achilles," he said in a strong, commanding voice. "She belongs to our patron, Gaea."

Achilles sneered. "Our only instructions were to bring her to Greece alive, Agamemnon. I'm sure Gaea would not mind. Besides I defeated the boy; she is a spoil of war. It is my right."

What was his right? Percy had no idea what the ghost was talking about, but he didn't like the look he was giving Annabeth, something between desire and contempt. Percy pulled his wrists up, trying desperately to break the bar that he was tied to. He needed to get to Annabeth!

Agamemnon roughly pushed Annabeth behind him. "You would be so foolish as to try Gaea's patience?" He asked angrily.

Achilles snarled. "You just want her for yourself. You have not changed in death!" He took a menacing step towards Agamemnon. "But I have! I refuse to be humiliated as I was in Troy!"

Agamemnon sighed. "You are a fool, Achilles. A thousand more years stuck in the Underworld could not change that."

Again, the great warrior snarled, but this time, he swung his fist at Agamemnon. The force of the blow sent the other ghost straight into Annabeth, who was standing behind him.

"I may be a fool, but at least I'm no coward! I stood in battle while you hid behind you title, 'commander of the Greeks'. You never set foot into the fray!" Achilles said, drawing his sword.

To Percy's surprise, Agamemnon slowly got up. He had been sure that Achilles' punch at the very least would've knocked the guy out, but then, they were ghosts. Who knew how their bodies worked. More concerned, he looked towards Annabeth. She was moving, but she didn't look good. Getting a guy thrown onto her couldn't have helped her injuries. "Annabeth!" he shouted.

She turned to look at him, but then her head fell back to the floor as she lost consciousness.

Neither ghost seemed to realize that the girl they were fighting over was passed out on the ground next to them, they were entirely focused on each other. Agamemnon threw himself angrily at Achilles, and Percy winced as he was thrown into the wall, narrowly missing Annabeth. From experience, Percy knew getting into a fight with Achilles wasn't the smartest move. Agamemnon seemed to realize this as well; he turned towards the other ghosts surrounding the room, and called to them, "This man betrays Gaea! For the sake of our Patron, defeat him!"

Spurred into action, the other ghost jumped into the battle. Their bodies seemed to flux and shift, changing colors and density until Percy could no longer tell what was going on. Still, the battle captivated him. He watched closely, praying to all the gods that it get any closer to where Annabeth was lying on the ground. Being so intent on the battle, he didn't notice the figure standing over him until it had cut the ropes around his wrists.

"Come on," The figure said in a calm voice. "I'm afraid my brethren can fight for an eternity amongst themselves. Now is your chance to escape."

Percy stared at the figure for a moment, unsure of what to do. It was clearly another ghost; he didn't seem quite solid, but he definitely wasn't a warrior. In fact, Percy couldn't see what Gaea could possibly want with this guy. His beard was pure white, and he was slightly hunched over. "Who are you?" he asked.

"It is of little importance," the ghost answered. "But if you must know, my name is Asclepius."

It didn't ring any bells in Percy's mind which wasn't exactly surprising. Percy glanced behind the ghost and caught sight of Annabeth. Without thinking, he ran over to her, completely ignoring the guy who most likely saved his life. He checked her pulse and it was strong. Breathing a sigh of relief, Percy gathered her in his arms and stood. He looked quickly towards the brawling ghosts, and saw that they hadn't seen him, or hadn't cared.

"This, way. Quickly, if you want to live!" Asclepius called to Percy, motioning for Percy to follow him.

After one more look at the battle behind him, Percy to follow Asclepius. The ghost led them farther down the hall of cells, and through a passageway hidden in the wall. One Percy would've walked right by if he hadn't known it was there. When they had entered the room beyond, Asclepius turned to face Percy.

"We should be safe here. They do not know of this place."

Somehow, that wasn't all that reassuring to Percy. His and Annabeth's situation seemed to be getting more and more hopeless. She was hurt even more now than when they started, and he had already failed; Achilles had defeated him easily, and it was only their first day Tartarus. Percy had no idea how they were going to survive long enough to reach the Doors of Death if things continued the way they were going. Still, he muttered his thanks to Asclepius and carefully laid Annabeth on the ground.

She moaned, but didn't regain consciousness.

Asclepius moved forward and used his knife to cut the ropes around Annabeth's wrists. Her arms flopped to the ground, lifelessly. He sheathed his knife and moved away, allowing Percy to stand next to her.

Percy carefully removed the backpack (which she had somehow managed to keep ahold of through everything) from her back. He placed it under her head as a make-shift pillow, trying to make her more comfortable. A chill passed him making the hair on the back of his neck stand up. Whipping around, he saw that it was only Asclepius who had moved to stand next to him.

"I see she's badly hurt," he said. "Move aside, I can help her."

Percy hesitated, a second, but then reluctantly took a few steps away from her. He reached into his pocket and was relieved to find Riptide there, he kept his hand securely around the pen; even if Asclepius had saved their lives, Percy wasn't sure he trusted the ghost. If he made any move to hurt Annabeth he'd be dead (or re-dead, Percy wasn't sure how that would work) before he could blink.

Asclepius had his eyes closed and ran his hands slowly up and down Annabeth's body, muttering to himself. "Ah, here it is." Placing them down on her broken rips, he began chanting again. Once he had finished, he moved onto her ankle and repeated the ritual. Then he placed his palm on Annabeth's forehead, and her eyes shot open.

"Percy?" she asked in a dry, raspy voice.

"I'm here!" Percy hurried over to stand next to her. He grabbed her hand, and gently started to help her up, but to his surprise, she got up by herself.

"What happened?" she asked. "The last thing I remember is Achilles and Agamemnon fighting…"

"Oh yes, those two." Asclepius said, shaking his head. "They'll never learn to coexist. Their fighting nearly cost Greece the Trojan War."

"I remember," Annabeth said. "They fought over someone else then… a girl named Briseis."

"Yes. Over which one of them she belonged to. A vulgar are barbaric practice well forgotten over the ages."

"You mean…" Percy couldn't finish the question as he realized the full extent of the ghost's fight. His hands clenched into fists and he moved protectively closer to Annabeth as if he could protect her from what almost happened.

"But I was hurt," Annabeth said, thankfully changing the subject. "What happened?"

"Asclepius healed you," Percy said gesturing towards the ghost.

Asclepius shrugged his shoulders modestly. "It was nothing. Back in my day I was a celebrated and revered doctor. I'm simply glad that in death, I can still help those who need it."

"Asclepius…" Annabeth repeated. "I've heard of you! You're a son of Apollo, right?"

"That is correct. It was from him that I received my gift of healing."

"You were the first physician," Annabeth continued. "I read that you could even bring the dead back to life!"

Asclepius chuckled, but it sounded almost regretful. "I'm afraid those rumors were exaggerated. No one can bring the dead back to life. I was just good at helping people avoid death."

"But if you helped people so much." Percy started, a question forming in his mind. "Why were you with Achilles and the others who work for Gaea?"

Asclepius looked down. "It's true that I did a number of good thing in my life, but I'm afraid I have not quite lived up to that in death." Asclepius paused a second, staring off, lost in thoughts before he continued. "People from all over the world heard about my skills with medicine and came to my hospital in hopes of being cured. Almost all went away saved. I trained apprentices in the art of healing. None were as good as I, but we saved so many people that Hades started to get angry. He was Lord of the dead, but no one was dying. He complained to Zeus." His faced morphed into one of anger. "The lord of Olympus was ready to smite me, but my father talked him down. Apollo pointed out all the good I was doing, and Zeus reluctantly allowed me to live. But, later, when I accepted a bag of gold for saving someone, he hurled a lightning bolt at me." He turned towards Annabeth and Percy. "It was money to keep my hospital running, but it was the excuse Zeus needed to kill me."

"Wow…" Percy was no huge fan of Zeus, but that seemed pretty harsh even for the king of the gods.

Asclepius continued his story. "I spent an eternity in the Underworld with nothing to focus on except my anger at the gods. I'm ashamed to admit it, but when I heard Gaea calling to the dead heroes I jumped at the chance to get my revenge. I journeyed with the other ghosts you encountered here, to Tartarus. Soon though, I started to question my choices. I have sworn to help anyone I could, how could I now pledge allegiance to Gaea and kill multitudes of people for the sake of my petty revenge? No. I may not have been able to take back my choices, but at least I could help you two escape."

Percy stared at the guy, not sure what to say. "Well… thanks," he finally managed.

Asclepius smiled. "No thank you for putting me back on the right track. If we had not encountered the two of you, I still may have been intent on only revenge, you two have reminded me of myself. For that, I am in your debt. Now come. Being dead, I can sense the Doors of Death. They call me to them. I can lead you there."

Not knowing what else to do, Percy looked to Annabeth, who nodded, They both followed the ghost farther into Tartarus, but hopefully closer to getting out.

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**A/N There! Finally done! Did you like it? Please tell me what you thought. I want to thank you guys for the amazing amount of support this story has gotten, please continue!**

**Sorry about the lack of contractions when the ghosts were speaking, I did it to try to make it seem like older language but sorry if it annoyed anyone!  
**

**Next chapter we're back to Piper, Leo, Jason, Frank, Hazel, and Nico! **

**Please keep reading!**


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N Sorry it took so long to post I've been very busy with stupid school stuff. In fact I really should be working on school stuff right now, but whatever. Anyway, than you thank you thank you to anyone who reviewed/favorited/alerted this story! You guys rock!**

**Okay, we're finally back to the other lot! Sorry if the action is a little quick, I was writing it a bit fast. Also, I don't really know how the Argo two looks or where things are situated exactly, so guessed. I'm sorry if it turns out that it was incorrect, I don't have time to go through and double check things with the book. Sorry for those of you where stuff like that get's on your nerves! (I'm one of them, so I do deeply apologize, but I really have no time!)**

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Jason turned to Piper. "I'm going to fight them in the air," he told her.

She nodded and pulled out Katoptris. She looked nervous.

Jason didn't blame her. Her… talents wouldn't be very much help in this situation. And, with what happened to Percy and Annabeth the reality of what they were facing had slapped all of them. How easy it would be to fall in battle; just one lucky hit from the enemy and you were dead. _They're not dead yet!_ He reminded himself angrily. Still, his hopes weren't high. Even though he knew how strong Annabeth was and even though he'd heard all the stories about Percy at Camp Half-Blood, Jason still found it hard to believe that anyone could survive Tartraus. Well Nico, had, or so he claimed. It was yet another reason why Jason found it hard to trust the son of Hades.

He stole another glance at Piper and prayed to all the gods that she would stay safe in this fight then he jumped over the edge. In a second, he was flying through the air. The Venti were swarming the Argo II. With their wispy ghost-like appearances, it was hard to say exactly how many there were, but he guessed there weren't more than seven. He could handle them easily.

Hovering in place for a second, Jason summoned up all his strength and sent a huge gust of wind at the Venti. It didn't affect them as much as he had hoped. They still clung stubbornly to the sides of the ship, flowing around the hull.

Jason glanced back at the deck. All the others (Except for Frank who had turned into some type of bird and was flying around Jason.) had drawn swords or whatever weapon they fought with, but they couldn't do much. For some reason the Venti weren't attacking the demigods, their only focus was the ship.

Jason concentrated, about to summon more wind, but a large black shape narrowly avoided him. He barely got out of the way in time. Turning to look at it, Jason saw that it was Percy's pegasus, Blackjack.

The flying horse swiveled its head around to look at Jason. He whinnied as if to say "Sorry about almost hitting you, dude, but you really shouldn't hover in the middle of the sky!"

Jason watched Blackjack fly to the ship, and blinked, wondering what had just happened.

The pegasus landed and after a second of hesitation, Hazel climbed onto his back and joined the fight.

Turning back to the Venti, Jason continued trying to get them off the ship. After a few more attempts, they let go. Just when he was about to fly level with them and really start the battle, they flew away.

Jason watched them float into the distance in disbelief. After a second, Jason flew back to the ship and landed lightly on the deck.

Frank followed and transformed back into a slightly pudgy Chinese-Canadian demigod. He hit the ground harder and less gracefully than Jason, but he appeared to be unhurt.

Hazel and Blackjack also found their way back.

"Well, that was easy," Leo said, fingering a heavy wrench he had pulled from his tool belt.

"Too easy," Nico said darkly, leaning against the railing and clutching his stomach. Jason guessed from his heavy breathing that even the little task of walking to the deck and the adrenaline from a fight, even if it wasn't much of one at all, had over exerted him. "The Anemoi Boreas didn't even try to attack us," he said, using the Greek term for the wind spirits.

"Then what were they doing?" Piper asked, looking around apprehensively. She had barely finished when a loud bang sounded and the Argo II lurched sharply to the right.

All the demigods grabbed the railing, trying desperately to regain their balance.

"Leo, what's going on?" Jason asked, assuming the leadership role.

"I don't know!" Leo said, digging around in his tool belt with one hand, and clinging to the banister with the other. "They must have taken something out in the engines!"

"Can you fix it?" Jason asked.

"I don't even know what 'it' is, yet!" Leo said irritably, but he seemed to only be half listening to Jason. He was much more focused on the condition of the Argo II.

Jason clenched his hands into fists; this was the last thing they needed. Who knew how long the delay would last.

"Gaea wants on the ground. In her territory," Nico said, his eyes fixed downwards. Just as he said that, the ship began to fall, gaining speed as it went.

"How about everyone just keeps quiet," Frank suggested, his face slightly green.

"Leo, I gotta have an update here!" Jason said, having to shout over the wind blowing into their faces.

"I'm trying, man! I don't know if we can make it." Leo had made his way over to the control panel. He pressed a few button, and muttered something under his breath.

Jason looked around wildly, trying to find a way to save them. There was no way he could fly all of them down, but there might be another way. He turned back to the others. "Hazel, you and Nico get on Blackjack and get to the ground. Frank, can you turn into something big that can fly, like a pegasus?"

Hazel nodded, and pulled Nico towards the flying horse. Nico protested, but she ignored him, and in a second they were off the ship.

Frank looked more apprehensive than Hazel, but turned into a chestnut pegasus roughly the same size as Blackjack.

Jason turned to Piper. "You get on Frank and get to the ground as well,"

Frank whinnied, and if was possible for a horse to blush, Jason was sure his face would be beet red.

Piper's mouth opened in surprise. "What about you?" she asked.

"I'll stay with Leo," Jason said. "And try to slow the ship. We have to save the statue." He looked away, but Piper seemed to understand that he had to do this, in honor of Percy and Annabeth. It was the least he could do, since Annabeth had done all the hard work of finding it in the first place. Besides, wherever she was, Jason was sure Annabeth would kill him if she came back and he had lost the statue.

Piper sighed but nodded. To his surprise she gave him a quick peck on the cheek. "Don't do anything too heroic. I expect to meet you on the ground." She gave him a stern stare before jumping onto Frank's back.

Frank hooved the ground a couple of times before leaping into the sky.

Jason watched them go without moving, until Leo broke him out of his trance.

"Some girl you got there," he laughed, a smirk on his face.

"Don't we have a ship to save or something?" Jason muttered, a slight blush appearing on his face.

This just made Leo laugh again. His smile faded as the speed at which they were falling suddenly increased substantially.

Jason felt his feet lift off the deck, and he had to grab the railing again to stay on the deck. He glanced at Leo who, to his relief, had also managed to grab ahold of something.

"Crap! The stabilizers must have blown!" Leo said. Without hesitation he ripped a panel off the side of the controls. As soon as he let go of the sheet of metal, it shot off into the sky behind them. He pulled out some wires and started reconnecting them in new positions.

"Leo, what can I do?" Jason asked.

"Try and slow the ship." Leo stated.

Jason looked over the side apprehensively. He didn't know if he was strong enough to get the wind to support something as large as the Argo II. Still, he closed his eyes and concentrated. Summoning a big ball of wind, he imagined it acting as a large pillow and cushioning the hull of the ship and slowing its descent. After a couple of seconds, he felt his feet hit the deck again. His hopes flared; they might actually make it out of this. Not daring to open his eyes for fear of losing concentration, Jason still heard Leo muttering behind him. Jason knew that even though he had manage to slow the fall, unless Leo got the engines or stabilizers or whatever was wrong working again, they were in for a pretty hard crash. The Argo II would take a lot of damage, and he and Leo would be lucky to emerge unscathed. Still, if worst came to worst, they could always abandon ship, but as he heard Leo speaking again, practically begging the ship to work, Jason doubted that the son of Hephaestus would leave unless it was truly their last option. And maybe not even then.

"Leo," he called, his eyes still squeezed shut. "How're you doing? Are we going to make it?"

"Wait just one second… and there! Done!" He said with satisfaction.

The ship slowed even more, but it was still going quicker than Jason would have preferred, but there was nothing more they could do, because just as Leo had completed the finishing touch, they slammed into the ground. Hard. Jason was thrown over the side. He landed painfully on his wrist a few feet away from the ship. The force of the impact knocked him out, but only for a second.

Groggily, his eyes opened. He tried to get up, but found that he could put no pressure on his left hand without a sharp arrow of pain shooting through the wrist and up his arm. Finally, he managed to get to his feet. As he looked at where he had landed, he realized even though he had broken his wrist, it could have been much worse. In fact, his wrist had most likely protected the rest of his body, shielding his chest. He guessed that if it had gone differently he easily could have severely broken his ribs to the point where he wouldn't be able to move from the pain.

Jason looked around again, this time searching for Leo. Or for anyone else for that matter. Where had they all gone? "Leo!" he called.

"Here!" A voice answered from inside the crashed ship.

Jason picked his way towards it. He found Leo still by the controls, sitting on some splintered wood. "Are you alright?" he asked, helping to pull Leo to his feet.

"Yeah I think so." A quick evaluation showed that Leo only had a few scrapes and bruises here and there. "So what now?" Leo asked mournfully surveying the deck of the Argo II. For the most part, it had held together pretty well. Boards had snapped, and some wires and gears were hanging limply, seemingly attached to nothing, but nothing that looked unfixable.

"We should check to make sure that the statue's okay," Jason said.

The two boys headed down below to assess the state of the great statue. To Jason's surprise, it didn't have a single scratch on it.

"Man! That thing's gotta be indestructible!" Leo said, whistling softly.

"Yeah," Jason agreed.

Assured that the statue was alright, they set off to find the others.

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**A/N Yay, that was really fun to write. Even if he got a small part, I'm glad I got to include him! He's so much fun to write for. Since unfortunately, Percy is no longer there to translate for us, I decide just to make people guess at what he's saying. Hopefully he will speak again in the future!  
**

**Please review! **


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N I know it's been forever, I'm sorry! Okay, this chapter is a bit strange, but it's all based on real Greek myths, I promise.**

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**Jason**

To Jason's annoyance, the others were nowhere to be found. They couldn't even find Blackjack.

"We left them for what? Like two minutes?" Leo asked, irritably kicking a rock as the pair circled back to the Argo II for the fifth time. "I mean seriously? How much trouble could they have possibly gotten into?"

"Too much." Jason's annoyance was quickly giving way to fear. This couldn't be happening. They just lost Percy and Annabeth, there was no way he was letting everybody else down as well. "We'll just have to find them."

Leo looked at him, his cocked eyebrow betraying his doubts. "No offense man, but that's all we've been trying to do and in case you hadn't noticed, it's not going so well."

Jason sighed in irritation, but he knew that Leo was right. "I know. I know. We need to come up with a plan."

Leo looked around nervously. "Plans don't exactly fall into my field of expertise," he pointed out, looking expectantly at Jason.

Jason returned the stare, but didn't answer, instead he looked thoughtfully at the demigod in front of him. Leo was continually selling himself short. Sure, he'd brag about his numerous accomplishments right after they happened, but as soon as someone like Jason, Annabeth, or Percy came into the picture, he'd immediately relinquish the leadership role to them.

How could Leo say he wasn't good with plans? Jason could easily remember tons of times Leo's quick thinking had saved everyones' butts. The instance with the Cyclops last year on Leo, Jason, and Piper's first quest together. Leo had saved all their lives. Fat lot of good Jason had been then, unconscious and wrapped in chains. And even more recently, with Echo and Narcissus. Jason hadn't actually been there, but again one of Leo's crazy plans had saved the day. And yet, he was still unsure of himself.

It seemed that with Annabeth and Percy lost, it was up to Jason to lead the quest. Unless Nico tried to take over, of course. It wasn't that Jason was unsure in his ability to lead, he'd been a leader his entire life, he was confident in himself. Or he was. That changed slightly when he meant Percy. Percy just made it seem so easy to have people's lives in his hands. He always seemed to make the right decision quickly and efficiently. He'd been named praetor of the Romans when he had barely spent a week with them. It made Jason feel just a little inadequate. By all accounts he should be better than Percy; even if Percy was older, Jason had known that he was a demigod for longer, had been training for longer, and of course, Percy's father was Poseidon and Jason's was Zeus. If anyone should be feeling that they were lacking, it should be Jason not Leo.

Suddenly aware that Leo had been staring at him for a good number of seconds while he thought, Jason answered, "Well, I guess the actual plan-making should come after we've figured what's going on."

"Um… don't we need a plan to find out what's going on?" Leo asked. "I mean, if walking around in circles isn't working for you."

Jason rolled his eyes, but had to admit that Leo had a point. "Fine. What do you suggest?"

Leo threw his hands up. "Whoa, whoa! Back up. I already said I wasn't plan guy."

Suddenly Jason noticed a flash of something in the corner of his eye. He whipped around but nothing was there. He reached into his pocket, hand tightening on the gold coin snuggled between the fabric.

"Uh, Jason… What's going on?" Leo asked, looking around anxiously. Jason was pleased to see that his hand was in his tool belt, ready to pull out a make-shift weapon.

"I don't know. I thought I saw something."

"A good something? Please tell me it was a nice friendly something. Or how about just something that doesn't want to eat us? I'd be okay with that."

"I don't know what I saw. It was just a flash of something. It was a sort of shimmery green color."

Leo looked at him incredulously. "A flash of green? We are sort of in a forest," he said, gesturing to the trees all around them.

It wasn't really a forest, more of a field with a good number of trees, but Jason got Leo's point. Still, he was sure he had seen something. "There! There it is again!" He shouted whipping around. This time he pulled out the coin and tossed it into the air. He caught it as a golden gladius. He held it up, ready to face down whatever danger they were facing,

"Are you sure, man?" Leo asked. "I didn't see anything." Despite this, he still retreated until he and Jason were standing back-to-back.

Suddenly, figures sprang from the trees. They ran towards the two demigods, but they stopped just out of fighting range.

As soon as they slowed down, Jason was able to get a good look at them. Immediately, he felt like he was seeing things. He had seen just about everything in his time. Almost every weird mythological monster there was, but the sight of the two things standing before him made him do a double-take.

"Jason," Leo started, his voice amazingly calm. "You see the giant green monkeys too?" he asked.

"Actually I think they're chimps. Or maybe apes."

Leo swallowed. "Oh, they're chimps! Well that's just great. For a second there I thought I was going insane."

Leo's description was actually pretty accurate. The two creatures that were now circling Jason and Leo were indeed giant green monkey-like things. They stood easily over seven feet tall. Their fur, if you could call it fur, shined and almost seemed to flow and change shades with the movements of their bodies. For the most part, it shifted between a blue-green color. They walked on two legs, but also used their long arms to propel them, like gorillas. They were dressed in what appeared to be the tattered remnants of a mailman's uniform and something that might have belonged to a pirate. The clothes were much too small, so the two things looked oddly squeezed and out of proportion. As they continued their circling, Jason noticed that they both had long tails. Jason wasn't an expert on the anatomy of primates, but he was fairly sure that apes and chimps didn't have tails. Looked like Leo was right about the things being monkeys. But that wasn't important. What was important that two huge green monkeys were circling them.

"Um… hello…?" Jason said, ending the word like a question.

The two monkeys started speaking to one another. It was too rapid for Jason to pick up, but even if he did, he doubted he could understand what they were saying; it sounded like they were speaking a different language. Their voices were strange. They were hissing, not at all what you'd expect a monkey's voice to sound like. Not that Jason had any particular expectation for a monkey's voice, but still. He turned to Leo, but was surprised to find that the other boy had a look of intense concentration. "Hey, Leo… everything alright?" he asked hesitantly.

"Shhhhh!" Leo said, waving his hand at Jason. "I'm trying to hear what they're saying!"

"You mean you can understand it?" Jason asked, thoroughly surprised. "How?"

"They're speaking ancient Greek."

Ahhhh. Of course. Jason should've picked up on that. After all, he had spent eight months surrounded by a campful of Greek demigods, most of whom were completely fluent in ancient Greek, but his ear just couldn't pick it up. At first he had tried to learn it, a task that proved impossible. Besides the odd curse word he'd picked up from the Ares cabin, he didn't understand Greek at all.

Leo listened for a few more seconds, but eventually sighed and gave it up. "I couldn't get much. They were talking fast and it was hard to understand their accents, but I caught a few words."

"What were they?" Jason asked.

"Others, demigods, mountain, angry, bring, Gaia. That was about it."

"Others and demigods? Maybe they know where everyone is!" Jason said excitedly. He hadn't missed the mention of Gaia, but he preferred not to think about it at the moment. Besides, they had bigger problems on their hands anyway.

"Yeah." Leo looked down. "Sorry I couldn't get more. I've never been very good at ancient Greek. If only An-" he caught himself and broke off.

Jason simply nodded. "Yeah. If only."

Suddenly the two monkeys cut off their lengthy conversation and turned toward Jason and Leo. They started speaking in unison. "You are the sons of Hephaestus and Zeus." It wasn't exactly a question.

Jason sighed, but fought down the urge to correct them that his father was in fact Jupiter, not Zeus.

"Our mistress wishes to see you." They were still speaking together in their strange hissing way.

"Yeah well, I think we'll politely decline!" Jason shouted.

"Oh but you must! Our mistress will be angry if we don't bring you to her!" two identical grins that Jason didn't much like spread over the faces of the monkeys. "You see, our mistress holds your friends in her palace. She will be angry if you don't come."

Jason gritted his teeth and tightened his grip on the gladius, but resisted the urge to attack. "Fine. Tell us where they are, and we won't kill you!" Jason shouted back to them, trying to sound confident.

The monkeys let out a long string of hissing, and it took Jason a second to realize they were laughing.

Okay, now he was really mad. "How do we know our friends at all? You could just be lying to us! I doubt you two could have defeated them!" he said, trying to goad the creatures into betraying the location of the others.

"We are the Cercopes," they said, as if this was an explanation. "They stood no chance against us."

"Oh really?" Leo asked, hefting a crowbar he had pulled from his belt.

"Yes. The pretty one tried to charm us with her words, but it didn't work. We are the masters of speech."

Jason had had enough of this. Raising his sword, he lunged at the closest creature.

The creature started hissing again. "With your sword you'll no longer fight, for it slinks and slithers and bites!"

Jason felt something change in his hands. When he looked up at his sword, he saw that he was no longer holding the golden blade; now, he was holding the tail of a huge snake. He yelped and dropped it, falling back a few feet.

"Jason! What happened?" Leo called. "Are you alright?"

"My- my sword!" Jason said, unable to finish the thought.

Leo looked at him, eyebrows scrunched together. "What? What's wrong with it?"

Jason stared at Leo in disbelief. Did he not see it? "It's a snake!" he shouted.

Leo's look of concern deepened. "What are you talking about? It's just a sword!"

Jason bewilderedly looked back at the snake on the ground by his feet. To his amazement, it had turned back to a sword. Open-mouthed, he gazed back and forth between Leo and the sword. "It… it was a snake!"

Leo just stared at him apprehensively.

"'I'm not crazy!" Jason felt compelled to add.

"I didn't think you were," Leo said, but his face told a different story.

Both of the Cercopes began to laugh in their strange way again. "Now do you understand our power."

"What did you do?" Jason asked.

The Cercopes ignored him. "Come with us if you ever want to see your friends again."

Not knowing what else to do, Jason turned and gave Leo a look that said: 'what else can we do?'

Leo answered with a small nod.

So, Jason reached down and snatched his sword off the ground. "Take us to them." He said the Cercopes

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**A/N Please please please review! (Also, I apologize for the super lames rhyme, but I'm really tired of rereading this chapter and just working on it, so it'll just have to stay.)  
**


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N Sorry about my incredibly long absence, I've had this chapter half written on my computer for ages, just haven't been able to find the motivation to finish it, but finally here is chapter 8!**

**Disclaimer (because I keep forgetting to put these in so please assume this goes for the whole story): I am not Rick Riorden, I am a fifteen year old girl with no life. I'm just borrowing his world and characters for my own amusement and he can have it back when I'm done. :) pretty much, I own nothing so please don't sue me. Seriously, you may be able to get a really old laptop but that's about it.**

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Jason

Jason absently looked at the scenic trail the Cercopes were leading them down without really observing any of it. He knew that he should be paying attention so they could follow the trail back to the wreckage, assuming they got out, but after the first couple of twists and turns he decided that his mind would be better occupied thinking of a plan that would make sure they made it out to get to the Argo II.

Of course, coming up with a plan wasn't exactly easy when you had no idea where you were going, who was waiting there, or where they had your friends locked up. Jason snuck a glance behind him at Leo, who had his hands shoved into his pockets and was staring at the ground.

Jason cleared his throat and turned towards the large monkeys, one in front of him, and the other behind Leo bringing up the rear. "So… um… where are we going?" He figuring it was worth a shot.

The Cercopes remained silent.

"For guys who claim to be 'masters of speech' you sure aren't great conversationalists," Jason muttered under his breath, but resigned himself to continue walking in silence.

After a few more minutes, the Cercopes stopped outside a large rock, just as the landscape started to take a steep incline.

Jason cocked his head up, and saw that they were at the base of what appeared to be a fairly large mountain. The forest was much denser there, so it was hard to tell. He turned back towards the group and saw that the two monkeys had gone over to the boulder and seemed to be pressing a combination of points on the rock.

"Of all the freaks to capture us," Leo said, coming over to stand next to Jason.

"I'm not sure this really constitutes being 'captured,'" Jason pointed out. "They don't seem to be all that concerned with guarding us."

"That's just because they know that we have to come with them to get the others," Leo said angrily, kicking the ground with his sneaker. "We're doing such a great job on the quest," he said sarcastically.

Jason was reminded of how Leo had been acting lately. Like he was to blame for what happened to Annabeth and Percy. "Leo… that wasn't your fault," Jason said, not quite sure why Leo would be blaming himself at all, but then they all felt a part of the blame at least for not getting there in time, or not paying close enough attention.

"You don't know everything that happened," Leo said so quietly that Jason could barely hear.

Jason was about to ask more, but the Cercopes began to speak.

"You will come with us." They were standing in the same place that they had been, but now one face of the boulder was gone and in its place was a doorway which, as far as Jason could tell, led to a tunnel that went underneath the mountain.

Jason and Leo glanced at each other. "What have we got to lose?" Jason asked.

"Our lives," Leo answered, but they both entered without any real hesitation.

Soon, they were too far down the tunnel to see the sunlight coming in from the opening. The darkness was stuffy and suffocating. For a moment, Jason felt as though he couldn't breathe. He ran his hand along the walls to keep from falling and considered asking Leo to light a small fire for them, but then decided that keeping that particular talent secret from their 'captors' might be a good idea.

Of course, Leo just reached into his tool belt and pulled out a flashlight, making Jason feel dumb.

They continued for a few more minutes, before they reached what appeared to be a dead end.

"Great, now what?" Leo asked, turning to the Cercopes.

Not surprisingly, they ignored him. Instead, they tapped out another strange code and a crack of light appeared in the seemingly solid wall, and the Cercopes pushed it open.

Jason blinked a few times to adjust his eyes to the cheery lighting in the room that they stepped into.

The room was huge. It looked like a ballroom. Or a throne room. The walls were extravagantly decorated with gold wallpaper, thick hangings, and very intricate carvings and woodworking. The style was fancy enough to have swooped right out of the baroque era. It had the superfluous air of the Palace of Versailles (or so Jason assumed, he'd only ever seen the French palace in pictures). The walls were lined with marble statues of cherubs and Romanesque women.

Despite the grandeur there was something old about the room. The wallpaper was faded, the hangings dusty. As magnificent as it seemed, Jason could tell it had fallen into disrepair.

Against the back wall, a woman sat in a chair. If it could be called a chair. It alone in the room seemed untouched by age. It could hold its own against any of the gods' thrones in Mount Olympus. Jason kept that thought carefully guarded, despite the gods' silence, he couldn't help feeling that even thinking it was so blasphemous that he would be vaporized where he stood.

The woman sitting in it, almost rivaled the chair. Her long black hair was knotted into an elegant bun on the top of her head. Though Jason wasn't really able to appreciate the hairdo's intricacy, he knew enough to assume that if any of the Aphrodite girls were there (Piper aside, of course) they'd be squealing and practically jumping up and down with excitement. She was dressed in a deep blue gown, that again Jason thought he probably didn't appreciate enough. She had dark skin, which, coupled with her hair, made her appear extremely Italian.

Two men flanked either side of the woman. Both were dressed in full Roman battle armor.

The Cercopes crossed the room, stopping in the center. They bowed to the woman. "Mistress," they said, in their hissing way. "We have brought you the two demigods you wished to see." They gestured for Jason and Leo to come forward.

They obeyed, glancing at each other beforehand.

The woman stood up. Jason thought he might have seen her wobble a bit as she stood. He hoped so. It would make her easier to defeat. She nodded at the Cercopes. "You may leave." Her voice sounded ancient somehow.

They bowed and exited the room through an archway to the right of Jason and Leo.

The woman turned to the two demigods. "You are the sons of Jupiter and Vulcan?" she asked.

Leo raised his hand. "Well technically I'm the son of Hephaestus…"

Jason gave him a look that said, 'you're really not helping'.

The woman waved her hand. "Trivial details. Hephaestus and Vulcan are one and the same. They both will come."

Jason's and Leo's heads jerked up at the same time.

"Whoa lady, hold on a second," Leo said.

At the same moment Jason asked, "Come, what do you mean come?"

"First allow me to introduce myself. I am Aitna, goddess of this mountain," she said, gesturing to the room around them.

Jason realized that the room must have been located at the heart of the mountain. Then her name really sunk in. Aitna… where had he heard that name before? Suddenly he remembered. His face paled. Aitna was the goddess of a mountain by the same name. At Camp Jupiter, he had studied not only mythology, but also the geography of Greece and Italy. It was a mostly useless study, probably only still required of the legionaries as an oversight, but at the moment he was glad for it. Mount Aitna was located several miles from Rome, in the opposite direction they were headed. For the first time, he realized just how far off course the fight with the Venti had thrown them.

"It was you," Jason said, pointing his sword at the goddess. "You ordered the Venti to attack us!"

The men on either side of her put their hands on their own swords and started to step forward, but Aitna halted them with a raise of her hand. "Yes. I had to get you here."

"To hand us over to Gaea." It wasn't a question, so Jason was surprised when she answered in the negative.

"No."

"Wait, you mean you don't work for Gaea?" Leo asked, clearly just as flummoxed as Jason. "Then why-"

"You misunderstand me. Of course I work for Gaea; she is my mother, and unlike those arrogant gods the rightful ruler of this world. I only meant you two shall not be handed over to her. Your friends will be."

Jason had had enough of this, and that was all he needed to hear. He charged towards her.

This time she didn't stop the two men from leaping to her aid. They met Jason's sword with a thunderous clash. After only a few moments of fighting, Jason knew that these men were not fighters. Their technique was sloppy. They were slow and appeared untrained. Still, both were much stronger than him, and of course there were two of them. Despite this, he had no doubt he could beat them given enough time.

"STOP!" Aitna shouted from where she was standing.

The two men immediately lowered their weapons and stood at attention.

Jason paused for a moment, but not one to waste an opportunity, he stepped forward, intending to stab one through the joints of his armor, but Aitna started talking again.

"You, son of Jupiter, sheath your sword, or you will never see your friends again!"

"You already admitted that you're going to give them to Gaea!" Jason shouted angrily, but he stopped his advance.

"Yes, but I can just as easily have them killed. It's true that my patron would prefer them alive, but she will understand that in the heat of battle it's hard to control who lives and dies. She will be content just knowing that they are no longer a thorn in her side."

"What do you want?" Jason asked, helplessly.

"I want to see the gods suffer! I want to see your fathers kneel before me and beg for my forgiveness!"

"Forgiveness?" Leo asked, mystified.

Jason couldn't blame him because he was feeling the same way. What had their fathers ever done to her?

"You two will spend the war in my dungeons. I will tell my mother that you perished in battle. You will remain alive and safe until both your fathers are chained before me. Then I will kill you in from of them."

"Oh, is that all?" Leo muttered.

Jason was thinking about the name Aitna again… He couldn't help feeling like there was some other important factor that he was missing. "You… supported the gods in the first titan war…" he said slowly, gauging her reaction to see if he was correct.

She turned a shade of purplish-red. "And look where it got me!" she screeched, gesturing wildly to the room.

Well. At he knew he was right.

Aitna continued. "I gave up everything to help those selfish, ungrateful pigs! I fought with them, against my own brothers and sisters! I offered my self, my mountain as a prison for their most fearsome enemy, Typhoeus, and that was no day at the park. Do you have any idea how many times I erupted, lava shooting from my head because he wouldn't stop moving? And what do I get from the gods? Not a thank you, not a well done, just those two idiots," she said, gesturing towards the two men now standing at attention.

Now Jason was really confused.

"And when they shifted to the West, did they take me? No they just left me here to rot!"

"That was mostly your fault, mother," one of the two men said.

"Silence!" Aitna fell back down on her throne, and raised a hand to massage her forehead. "Oh mother Gaea, what did I do to deserve such insolent sons?"

"Trusted the gods," the other one said.

Aitna seemed to want to reply, but decided against it. She turned to look at Leo and Jason again. "Allow me to introduce my sons. The Palikoi."

"Palikoi…" Jason muttered to himself. The names didn't sound familiar, so they were probably very minor gods.

"They are my sons by either Jupiter or Vulcan."

"Or?" Leo asked incredulously. "How do you not know?"

Aitna stood up angrily. This time Jason was sure she wobbled. She had to put her hand on the back of her throne to regain her balance. "It was after the titans were defeated! We celebrated for many days, feasted and drank wine. My memories of it are… hazy"

"Oh…" Leo looked extremely uncomfortable. Jason didn't blame him. "So how do you know it was… one of our dads?"

"I'm certain it was one of them," Aitna said shortly, thankfully not answering Leo's question. "I informed them of the fact and neither bothered to even stop by to see me!"

"So, you're going to imprison and kill us, because our fathers didn't call you back after a one night stand?" Jason asked.

"More or less," one of the two men muttered.

"You will not speak!" Aitna yelled at him. "Do you see what the gods have done to me? I used to be the most powerful mountain goddess there was, and now look at me!" she said, and for the first time Jason noticed the lines on her face. "When it was time to shift, I gave Jupiter and Vulcan an ultimatum, but they ignored it! Instead they moved Tphoeus to some new mountain, younger than me! I lost everything! Thankfully my mother is a forgiving person. She has pardoned my behavior in the first war, and has given the chance to exact my revenge."

Leo still looked confused. "But aren't gods having kids all the time? What's so important about those two?"

"They are my only children, I fear forever. And thanks to their father, they are also complete idiots."

Jason looked at the men, who he now realized were either his or Leo's half brothers. He suddenly felt sorry for them, having to put up with a screechy goddess all day. He didn't want to kill the. (And if they were indeed gods, it would be hard to do so, given their immortality.) "Are you going to let her talk to you like that?" he asked.

The men blinked. "She is our mother," one of them said.

"So?" Leo asked, realizing what Jason was doing. "You don't have to take crap like that from her! How old are you guys?"

"We are 2,300 years old."

Leo whistled. "Wow. And you never moved out, and lived on your own?"

"She is our mother," the Palikoi said again.

"Doesn't it bother you though? This ridiculous revenge on your father, her constantly insulting you?" Jason asked.

"It does get annoying," one of them said, with a sidelong glance at Aitna.

"Stop! I forbid you to talk," Aitna shrieked.

"See how controlling she is? Why don't you just leave?" Leo asked, completely ignoring the now-fuming goddess.

"Leave?" the Palikoi asked together, like it was the first time they heard the word.

"Sure just walk out the door and go live your own lives," Jason answered.

"If you say one more word, I will kill your friends!"

Jason and Leo stopped talking, but still looked meaningly at the Palikoi. Leo mouthed "think about it."

"That's it!" Aitna cried. "Take them to the dungeons with the other prisoners!"

The Palikoi considered her orders, almost seeming to wonder if they should obey. After a few exchanged glanced between themselves and nod, they bowed to Aitna. "Of course mother." They turned to Leo and Jason. "You will accompany us."

Leo looked at Jason questioningly.

Jason gave him a short nod to indicate that they should go with the Palikoi. If it did come to a fight, Jason would prefer it to be away from a goddess. Plus, they still needed to find their friends. So, they followed the Palikoi out the throne room.

As soon as they were out of Aitna's earshot the Palikoi turned to them. "We have no wish to watch our brothers die," one of them said.

"Yes," the other agreed. "We have thought about what you said. We no longer wish to serve our mother."

"Good choice!" Leo said, and high fived them both.

"There is an escape route. A way out of the mountain. We will show it to you."

"Great," Jason said, "But first we need to get our friends."

The two men looked at each other. "We hoped you would not say that. Getting your friends out of our mother's prison might be difficult."

"Doesn't matter," Leo and Jason said together.

"Alright then. We will lead you to them."

The four of them started down the corridor towards wherever the others were being held.

* * *

**A/N So there it is, please read and review and of course enjoy! I'd love any feedback, you'd be willing to offer. As always everything is based on actual Greek myth, if you want to see how much, just look up Aitna or any of the other characters. People aren't sure who fathered the Palikoi, Jupiter or Vulcan, so I decided to make Aitna not sure either!**

**Okay, so I know it's left at a slight cliffhanger and this portion isn't really resolved, but a lot of people want a percy/annabeth chapter, and I really want to write another one, so tell me in reviews or pms or whatever which you'd prefer to read next, percy/annabeth, or everyone else?**


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